Activist

Erica Payne, founder and president of the left-wing Agenda Project, is encouraging people to deface the cover of Paul Ryan's new book, which is hitting shelves today.

"Hi Daniel," Payne writes in an email. "Just a heads up, Paul Ryan's new book comes out today and his publisher is furious! It turns out that they accidentally shipped it with the wrong cover, and they need your help to make things right.

"We have the correct cover and it's up to us to get it on as many of his books as possible, as soon as possible. The real cover is right here. Just print it out, take it to your nearest bookstore, and place it over the book jacket. Rep. Ryan is counting on us, let's not let him down!"

Of course, it's a lie. Payne is encouraging people to deface Ryan's book with this phony cover:

Here's the real book cover (note: it doesn't include an image of Ryan pushing granny over the cliff):

In an email, one longtime media observer writes, "Isn't this kind of crazy nasty? Asking people to deface somebody's book that comes out today? Just seems pretty over the top lunacy to me."

Writing for Salon, Curtis Morrison, a self-titled "liberal activist," admits to bugging Mitch McConnell's office. He claims to have been inspired by Julian Assange and claims, "If given another chance to record him, I’d do it again."